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(Bloomberg) — Ken Griffin desires to exert extra affect in Florida politics. Certainly one of his prime priorities: stopping new casinos in his yard.
The state’s second-richest particular person is opposing a invoice that will enable new playing venues in South Florida cities similar to Miami Seaside and Doral, dwelling to the Trump Nationwide resort.
“Permitting casinos to hurt thriving communities and undermine Florida households is like willingly dumping poisonous waste into the Everglades,” Griffin wrote in a letter to the Miami Herald.
The Citadel founder, value $36.8 billion, in response to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, moved to Miami in 2022, relocating components of his enterprise and snapping up actual property, together with nearly $200 million of property in Miami Seaside’s Star Island. He described the on line casino proposal as a “gimmick created by lobbyists and particular curiosity teams that blatantly disregards our voice as voters and places Florida’s momentum in danger.”
Filed this month by Republican state consultant Alex Rizo, the invoice would enable on line casino operators to relocate their present permits to new places inside 30 miles, circumventing native restrictions. That will enable actual property mogul Jeffrey Soffer to create a playing venue within the luxurious Fontainebleau lodge in Miami Seaside.
Griffin’s opposition is simply the newest instance of the billionaire flexing his Florida affect. Final yr, he helped water down a proposal that positioned restrictions on actual property purchases by people from China, Venezuela and 5 different “nations of concern” earlier than it was enacted. On Tuesday, he informed attendees at a Miami convention he could be be “deeply concerned” in Florida political races regionally.
To Griffin, “city casinos injury communities and erode high quality of life,” he wrote in his letter.
“Casinos are a nasty guess for South Florida. We have to defeat this reckless laws, defend our private rights as voters and defend Florida’s future.”
The Florida push to broaden playing is a component of a bigger nationwide effort that’s sparking large lobbying efforts and dividing communities.
Miriam Adelson, widow of on line casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is buying a majority stake within the Dallas Mavericks with a watch on finally constructing a on line casino and enviornment complicated. In Chicago, the town Griffin left for Miami, native authorities have pushed for a on line casino as a approach of mending its troubled funds. Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, in the meantime, is partnering with Laborious Rock Worldwide in a proposal to construct an $8 billion on line casino in a parking zone in Queens.
Photograph: Ken Griffin (Lam Yik/Bloomberg)
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